Toyota Motor Corp., global leader in the new market for energy-efficient hybrid cars, initially developed its hybrid system for the Prius compact car. It has said its new luxury-class Lexus GS450h, due out later this year, will also be powered by an electric motor and gasoline engine.
The Japanese automaker now plans to introduce hybrid technology in all classes of vehicles, from luxury cars to compacts, and aims to top annual global sales of 1 million hybrid cars by 2012, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
Toyota will concentrate on lowering production costs so the technology can be used in cheaper models, and aims to keep the retail price differential between hybrid and conventional cars to under 300,000 yen (US$2,550; euro2,106), according to the report.
Toyota has said it is targeting global sales of 5,700 hybrid vehicles this year ? 2,000 vehicles in North America, another 2,000 in Europe,
1,500 in Japan and 200 elsewhere.Calls to Toyota went unanswered Saturday.